How to check whether a salesperson's quota attainment is real

"I closed a 500K deal."

Great. Walk me through it.

The short answer: treat quota attainment as one data point out of about fifteen. Ask the candidate to walk you through three of their main deals, from the first touch to the signature. Compare their numbers and stories across every call of your process. Real numbers come with rich detail, a repeatable process and twenty client names ready to go. Inflated ones crumble by the third conversation.

Attainment is one data point out of fifteen

Sales is pretty binary. You either hit your numbers or you didn't.

The rest is storytelling, and that story matters a lot.

Picture a candidate who tells you: "I've been in the industry for two years. I know your buyers, what makes them tick, how to get to them. My company's product was seen as a commodity. Nobody on the team hit their number. We changed leadership three times in 18 months. It was toxic. I want to represent a product with an edge."

Now the missed quota means a lot less. The context explains it, and the context is checkable.

The three-deal walk-through

Ask them to walk you through three of their main deals. Precisely. That's how you measure the fluff.

For each deal:

• Origin. Inbound, outbound, a referral? Were they manning the booth and got lucky, or did they have a plan?
• The path. Who did they talk to first, who joined later, who almost killed it?
• Their part. What did they do that the deal wouldn't have closed without?
• The numbers. Size, cycle length, discount, and when it signed.

I'd rather talk to people who have a plan. People who are proactive, who scratch their heads and think creatively. People who don't have a big logo behind them and a big marketing team feeding them a ton of leads.

When the numbers get inflated

Inflation happens most at the start of the process, when candidates are trying to impress.

Then a different number shows up on the second call. A different story on the third. That's when the whole house of cards crumbles.

People don't realize we take notes and keep pretty much everything they tell us. If the story isn't consistent, we find out by the end of the process.

Why reference checks only half work

You can tie the numbers to reference checks. Use them.

Just know their limits. Memories are fuzzy, and a former manager will often say "yeah, that sounds about right" when they have no clue.

So the real question shifts. Did they hit exactly 1.5 million? Hard to prove. Can they reassure you on their major deals, and on how repeatable their process is? That you can test in an hour.

The tells of a real story

• They believe it. Like an actor reading lines they truly believe. When the numbers are made up, the answers get flimsy.
• It repeats. They can show you a process that would work again, at your company.
• They name names. Two years at the same firm should mean twenty clients they can name without thinking.
• It's rich. Specific people, objections, dates, the moment it almost died.

The checklist

Check	What good looks like	Red flag
Attainment in context	Numbers explained by product, territory, leadership, market	A big percentage and nothing else
Three-deal walk-through	Clear origin, their own moves, precise numbers	"The team closed it", vague sizes
Consistency across calls	Same numbers, same story, call after call	The deal grows between interviews
Process	A repeatable way to build pipeline	Luck, inbound, a famous logo doing the work
Client names	About twenty names after two years	Can't name five
References	Confirm the stories behind the totals	"Sounds about right"

The number gets them the interview. The story behind it gets them the job.

Talk soon!✌️

FAQ

How can I check whether a salesperson's quota attainment is real?

Ask them to walk you through three of their main deals, from first touch to signature: how each was originated, who was involved, what they did, and the size, cycle and discount. Then compare their numbers and stories across every call of your process.

Are reference checks enough to verify sales numbers?

Only partly. Memories are fuzzy, and former managers often confirm figures they cannot remember. Use references to confirm the stories behind the totals.

What are the signs a sales candidate is inflating their numbers?

Numbers or stories that change between calls, vague deal sizes, "the team closed it", and difficulty naming clients. Someone two years at the same firm should name about twenty clients without thinking.